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Home My WebLink About2009 Village Court Annual Report.PDF2009 AI{I{UAL REPORT VILAGE OF CAYUGA HEIGHTS COURT Glenn G. Galbreath Village of Cayuga Heights Justice Patricia Kannus Village of Cayuga Heights Court Clerk ANINUAL REPORT OF' GLENI\ G. GALBREATH, VILLAGE JUSTICE The total number of cases is about 30% lower than last year, but the fines/fees collected is only20%o lswer' The total outstanding fi'es/fees owed by o"inautr has dropfea. - po, the most partthe reductions in case numbers appti,:o uniformly to almost all case types. In sum, it has been arelatively quiet year without any-major trends oispecial crises. Following the summary of data immediately below is a short narrative about the data and othercourt activities for the year. The charts uttu.h"d at the back contain more detailed court data. Case Tvpes Vehicle + Traffrc Law (V+TL) (including parking) Penal Law ("criminal,,) Civil/Small Claims Total Cases Total Monies Colle cte al Number of V+TL Trials t5 aJ 1097 $ 64,597 3T 2009 681 12 9 702 $ 52,536 22 2008 979 (See attached chart.) vehicle and traffic law matters accouut for the majority of the court,s cases, fines andsurcharges collected and the court clerk's time. The total number of vehicle and traffic cases isabout 30% lower than last year. That reduction was fairiy uniform across the various types ofcharges, particularly in the three largest categ.ories (speeding, speeding in a school zone, andfailure to obey traffic oontrol deviceJ arrd in ih. ,norir.rious categories (alcohol related driving).The case numbers for seat bert and cell phone violations did not drop. The number of case dismissals dropped proportionate to the drop in case numbers" Almost allthe dismissals were done in the "interesti ofjustice," because there was no violation (e.g. drivingwithout insurance, later proven to have been in effect at the time of the ticket) or the violationwas minor and quickly remedied (e.g. a recently expired inspectlon or registration or minorequipment violation)' Additionaliy iisrnissalr;;;;;'"r the proseJution and defense 4 togethei ask and convince the court to agree toa plea bargain wherein charges are reducedand/or dismissed in t:lYT for a guihy pGa by the defe;;nt to one or more charges. In somecoutts the pressure of high case loads can be a significant incentive for accepting plea bargainsproposed by the defense and prosecurtion. Becauie the village court,s case numbers are not ffiIf#i:f;;ff',.'"'o p"'su" ra:relv pruv' u ior.l; il d-etermining ii;t;" bargain wiu There was a 20yo decrease in fines/surch-arges collected - $ 64,597 in 200g down to $ 52,536 in2009' but considering that the number of cises aropf.J 16%, th"rate of collection actuallyimproved' some of that improvemerLt may be dueio the increase in the mandatory minimumfines and surcharges' when I started as the village ,luriir. in 1991 atypical surcharge imposedby New York state on the most common.uumg iiaa.tion, e.g. speeding, stop sign violation,etc') was $ I 7' Now the surcharge for such violation, i. lds and will soon rise to $ 1 05. For thealcohol related offenses., the surlharge is typicalry s+oo.-r"r many standard vehicle and trafficlaw infractions the surcharges are hiljher tttun tn. nn. i-for"a. And becaur. ,rr. surcharges aremandatory' I have no authority to wiive or reduce them, iven if the defena*t i, indigent orimposition seem unjust in a particular case. Parking (See attached chart.) Although parking tickets- ar.e part of the vehicle and traffic law statistics, we identiff themseparately because the administrative processing frequentlyls done by the Folice Departmentand the court clerk without the need ib, *y intervention. "only occasionally do I need to arraigna defendant or hold a,trialfor a parking ticket. Nwerttreieri tn. court cleri must atways fl:?:;::H#:ro:f ;!ffiffiTli{ i{;t6;r.,6;; orthe nne rhe nu.nu", oiparking Penal Law (Criminal) Cases (See attached chart.) The Penal Law category includes infractions, misdemeanor and felony cases, These tend to beserious matters and take more time. of course, *hil.;;;;of the vehicle and Traffic Law casesare infractions' many are misdemeanors and felonies and therefore are also .trimes,,,e.g. drivingwhile intoxicated (DwD, aggravatedariving while *t*irLa (ADwi), reckless driving,aggravated unlicensed operation(AUo), leaiing th. s.en;of an injury accident, etc, There were12Penal Law convictions in 2009 as compu.ed to l5 in 200g,16 in2007,and 3l in 2006. The ilf, iflfi:probablv too small to signifv anv ,ort ortr*a, ur, ar least rd;headed in the An important fact to note is that felonies, the most serious criminal cases (e.g. homicide, majorsexual crimes' robbery, etc), do not actually appear in ouirtutirtics. The village court haspreliminary jurisdiction over felonies and i.g,rturty rroia, r.ilny arraignments, ba' hearings andpreliminary hearings to determine if the oere-naanistrouial" n.ra for the grand jury. Thenfelonies are transferred to the Tompkins county c";; ;;; the case can resuri in conviction or ,tii#:i:",'ff3Jff ::::ffff :l:t;ffi i";';;;#"*donconvicti";;;;dismissa,s, Vehicle and Traffic Trials (See attached chart.) The number of trials reflects only those held in vehicle and Traffic Law cases. we had,22 in2009 which is consistent with th! smaller number of vehicle and Traffic Law case numbers"we do not collect data on the number of civil or Penal ru* triur, notwithstanding their oftenbeing more lengthy, Again this is a function of the computer program. Civil and Small Claims Cases (See attached chart.) Although both the civil and small claims categories concern non-criminal matters, the ,,civilDocket" is technically different from "small dlaims." gotn have the r*" *u*i*um monetaryjurisdiction of $3'000, but the small claims cases use un.*peait.d procedure that is simpler andmore accessible to non-lawyer partier;. civil and small claims ;.:;;;; the smallestnumber of cases (9 in2009) bui include r"bj..t;dto oii-port*ce to the parties, e.g. landlord-tenant matters' consumer transactions, contract disputes over.bills for profesiional services, etc.These cases tend to be very time consuming and often result in longeriri"r, ""0 written opinions.The Court routinely refers the parties to the community Dispute Resolution Center formediation' but does not delay the count proceeding, *hil. mediation is being considered or used. Other activities we do not include in any of the data rr:ports: late night arraignments, search warrant requests,pretrial hearings, status conferences, motion urgu-.itr, uror* of protection, declarations ofdelinquency, felony preliminary hearings, heari=ngs on violations of probation, or sentencings.All are time consuming and important activities, "but coliecting the data on them is not automaticby our computer. Patricia Kannus, the court clerk, attenLded clerkship refresher training sessions in2009. rcompleted the required two days of Acitvanced coniinuing Judicial EJucation progru* for townand village justices' In addition, I mad.e twelve presentati"ons on a variety of topics to new andexperienced judges as part of the mandatory training for town and village justices. I am also onthe curriculum committee for the Nevr York state iudicial Institute. The committee creates anddoes the training-of-trainers for the initial and continuirg i.g"r education provided to New yorkState town and village justices. In Decemb et 2009,I was appointed the Acting Torln of Lansing Justice to cover the first fourmonths of 2010 for the newiy appointerl justii in the T;; of tansing (David Banfield) whomust undergo training.lefor-e he can begin to pr"ria. in w^v, zot0. I will preside in the Town ofLansing court one to three times u *..ii. It will not interfere with my position here in theVillage. Miscellaneous we finally spent our New York state Justice court grant of $5,000, and the entrance area of thevillage Hall and court is now tullv accesstbl" f";;ili;;ir and walkers. we are quire pleased with the improvement and applaud the village Engineer, Brent cross, for his design andexecution of the project. Conclusion Should you have any questions or comments about the report, please contact me or the courtclerk' Further' I remind everyone that the court sessions are held every Tuesday evening at 6:00PM and the first Thysday of .u.ry rrronth at 5:00 pM. Tilpublic in generar, and you inparticular, are invited to observe these sessions. Dated: February 14,2010 Respectfull %@ Glenn G. Galbreath Village Justice f,ost are not criminal misdemeanors or felonr es) COtrtVlerl nNq 2005 2006 zggT 2008 200920414316413584-; 20 12 44tl 11-7 ;;;zvv 14 11 13 88 95 oo 121 14;z z 10 I z 18 3fa'ffi 4to 1 12 Uniicenserl nnerafi^n -_- o .; J 14 z z Unreoistered vahinta lz 14 22 17 1 4 7 2 10equipment violalion '----.---._--.._--_'- ffi no Insurance leil phone )mer zv 15 JO 1 h 1 2241411418 I 77o,t 71 16 J tOret cOtrvlcfibtts ffi @ PaEr< rrrn=,r^"-*- 3756153561519 228338384334372 2311o13 55117o612475 rvtrrL yrtL frAittrli 1073 1028 1028 979 681 ScoFFt awrn FaE V+TL TRIRLS '?CD" is an adir ffir too 185 91 48 1.1 6 1a35JC2.1 31 I tor agree conOitio prosecutorthen musffi ndantand tEilt ! -l J etore tI can be tssued. I resolved. tn s fulty '_--.i!llv'q|ovl:=;i/fta-Lr;ns 1 --l _ _-__::i,t:: ry yi l, ,s lrrarc r equrres wnen a license is restored after suspensiI lh_=-T fn PENALLAwm;,irirrt .r..- misdemeanors of felonies) crim. tamoerino --.---------.___-- motor vehicle - unlawTul uG of acontrolleO suOstance unlawful contact witn a minor rgrAl CASET CIVIL CASES $74,848 oweo ey DE,'ENDANTs $14,175 $15,975